As is clear, in malthouses of this type it is necessary for the material, in particular the barley, to pass from the corresponding upper feed hopper to the upper steeping floor and directly to other steeping floors in the event that there is more than one. In a similar way, the material must also pass from these steeping floors directly to various germination floors and finally the same thing occurs from these germination floors to the lower roasting floors, in such a way that sometimes the material passes from one floor to the immediately lower one, while other times it must make a "jump" of two or more floors.
On the other hand there are malthouses in which, due to the diameter of the previously mentioned chambers or floors and for structural cost reasons, it is indispensable to make use of a strong central column which supports the flooring units of the various floors and on which rotates, in its turn, the conventional machine-arm which, disposed radially, is charged with spreading the material over the entire surface of the floor during the loading operation of same, and gathering it towards the central column during the unloading operation, with the help of an endless belt suitably linked up to the said machine-arm.
In such cases and in accordance with the conventional systems for loading operations a revolving channel is installed above which a fixed paddle operates, or vice versa, in order to dispense the product into a gutter which moves with the said machine, while the unloading is accomplished with the help of an annular window in a hollow column provided with radial partitions and aided by a cylindrical hatch which enables the opening or closing of the said window.
The disadvantages that this rotating conveyor system presents essentially center around the cleansing aspect, since there always remain grain residues which germinate and grow, for which reason it is indispensable to have access to the pipework installed inside the hollow column in which consequently a "manhole" must be installed, with the consequent weakening of the said column in addition to the problems of maintenance and the parallel increase in cost that this implies.